Winter Olympics 2018 Opening Ceremony: Highlights and Analysis

The figure skater Yuna Kim lit the torch.Credit
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

The crowning moment of any opening ceremony: the final leg of the torch relay and the lighting of the Olympic caldron. Inbee Park, the golfer, was one of the final torchbearers. Two members of the mixed North and South Korean women’s hockey team, Chung Su-hyon of North Korea and Park Jong-ah of South Korea, carried the torch up the stairs. And the hero chosen for the highest of Olympic honors was ... Yuna Kim, the profoundly popular figure skater who won the gold medal in 2010 and the silver in 2014. She is a beloved celebrity in South Korea and often referred to as Queen Yuna.

Athletes from North and South Korea carrying the unification flag at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.Credit
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

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The unified Korean team marching out as one.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

Unified Korean team heard cheers, but not from all.

A unified Korean team of athletes marched out together carrying the unification flag as the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, watched from the stands near Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader.

The Olympics may have renewed hopes of a unified Korea for some, but attitudes about becoming a single nation again have shifted since the last time South Korea hosted an Olympics, the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul. In general, younger South Koreans are less favorable toward reintegrating with the impoverished North. In fact, a recent survey showed that more than 70 percent of South Koreans in their 20s were against reunification. They are more interested in domestic issues, like unemployment, and some feel that reuniting the peninsula would be burdensome for the South.

The cross-country skier Pita Taufatofua of Tonga marching shirtless into Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

Tonga’s flag-bearer stole the show ... again.

The one-man Tongan team is the cross-country skier Pita Taufatofua. He caused a stir at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, where he was a taekwondo athlete, by carrying the flag shirtless and greased up. And for these frigid Winter Games ... he has done it again. A startling and perhaps foolhardy display given the weather, but the crowd absolutely roared as he made his way through the stadium. Nobody received a better reception here than Taufatofua.

The athletes from Russia entered behind the Olympic flag. Russia failed in overturning a ban against 47 athletes and coaches from participating in the Games because of a doping scandal.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

There was no Russian flag in the parade of nations.

The Olympic flag, lifted by a volunteer instead of an athlete, was carried ahead of the Russian team. Or more precisely, the “Olympic Athletes from Russia.” The absence of the Russian flag is part of the punishment for Russia’s state-backed doping program at the Olympics four years ago. But the Russians still have a robust team of more than 160.

Viktor Ahn missed his chance at a heroic homecoming.

Missing from the group of athletes from Russia was Viktor Ahn, a short-track speed skater of South Korean descent. He was among the athletes barred from competing in the Pyeongchang Games. Racing here would have been significant for his career. He was one of South Korea’s best skaters and won his first three Olympic golds while competing for South Korea. But after a bitter falling out with South Korean sports officials, Ahn switched his allegiance to Russia.

Team U.S.A. marching behind the flag bearer Erin Hamlin, the first female American luger to medal at an Olympics.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Vice President Mike Pence of the United States, center, with his wife, Karen, left, watched with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, right, and Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korea’s leader, rear left.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Team U.S.A. walking out to the song “Gangnam Style” by the South Korean musician Psy.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

Team U.S.A. walked out to ‘Gangnam Style.’

Vice President Mike Pence waved at the huge American contingent — at 242 it is the largest for any country at any Winter Games. The United States also got the chance to walk out to “Gangnam Style,” by far the most successful Korean pop song ever.

The chill in the air didn’t put a damper on the fireworks at the show.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Some of South Korea’s leading music stars sang “Imagine” amid a sea of candles.Credit
Hilary Swift for The New York Times

Impersonators drew a crowd during the parade.

There was some commotion in one section of the stadium midway through the parade of athletes when Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un — or, rather, impersonators of them — appeared near the bottom row of stands.

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The Trump look-alike seemed a bit flustered as he worked his way up the steps. The Kim look-alike could be heard telling him in English, “Walk slowly.”

They ducked into a concourse, a pack of journalists in their wake.

The parade of nations followed the Korean alphabet.

The backbone of any opening ceremony is the parade of nations. While there are always a diversity of outfits and glimpses of athletic stars, its sheer length can test even the most geographically fascinated fan. This year’s was scheduled to run for nearly an hour in the American broadcast. The athletes were to come out alphabetically, so why were Norway and Netherlands near the front? Because it’s alphabetically by the countries’ names in Korean. Unless that’s one of your fluent languages, this method will provide a dash of the unexpected. (Timor-Leste followed Germany.)

Drummers performing during the ceremony. Temperatures dipped to around 28 degrees as fans started to enter the stadium an hour before the event.Credit
James Hill for The New York Times

A slight change in the program.

With the North Koreans deciding just a month before the start of the Winter Games to send a delegation, there was little time to adjust the opening ceremony. Five hours before the start of the show, Song Seung-whan, a South Korean actor and popular theatrical producer who served as director, said that he had only tinkered with one segment to reflect North Korea’s presence. (He would not offer any spoiler alerts.)

Looking relaxed in a black turtleneck sweater and jeans, Mr. Song said that his biggest concern in the run-up to the ceremony was the cold. “We had to develop many contingency plans just in case the weather went bad,” he said. A few days ago, when temperatures plunged below zero degrees Fahrenheit, dancers were given spikes for their shoes to ensure that they could dance in icy conditions. Mr. Song said that engineers were also concerned that the hundreds of electronic devices being deployed for the ceremony might not work in the freezing temperatures, but “we tested them at the rehearsal, and they were fine.”

As it turns out, the weather on Friday night was practically balmy, expected to fall only to about 28 degrees.

Mr. Song said he struggled to keep the show, which features 1,300 performers and another 700 volunteers in one scene, within a “very limited budget.” He declined to say what that budget was, but noted with a laugh: “It was far less than Beijing.”

Thomas Bach, gold medalist, opened the Games.

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, made his appearance. As always, he was introduced as a “gold medal winner” (he won a fencing medal in 1976).

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, was also in attendance, together with the North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam. President Moon Jae-in of South Korea shook hands with Ms. Kim briefly.

Kim Yo-jong, sister of Kim Jong-un, at the opening ceremony.Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Members of the North Korean cheering squad sang and waved the unified flag.Credit
James Hill for The New York Times

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Performers blanketed Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, which will be demolished after the Games.Credit
James Hill for The New York Times

A modest venue, curiously shaped — and temporary.

There are several unusual things about the site for the ceremony, Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium. First off, it’s small. Seating 35,000, it is dwarfed by the likes of the Maracanã (78,000), which played host to the Summer Games in 2016. Second, it’s just for the ceremony, not any athletic events. Third, it’s temporary. It will be demolished after the Games. And lastly, it is an unusual shape, a pentagon. Evocative of the Olympic rings, other “five” symbolism was featured in the show.

It’s cold, but everybody’s prepared.

The forecasts were true: It’s pretty cold here.

Temperatures dipped to around 28 degrees as fans started to enter the stadium an hour before the ceremony, and steady winds made it feel far chillier than that.

Reports emerged during the week that scores of spectators attending a rehearsal last Saturday ended up leaving early because of the extreme cold. But several fans outside the stadium on Friday declared themselves ready to face the chill.

“I’m from Buffalo,” said Mary Salvador, who had traveled from New York to join a group of Korean adoptees from around the United States. Moments earlier, she had pulled on a pair of dark ski pants. Pulling hand warmers from her pocket, she added, “You need these. We’ve been using these all week.”

The ceremonies at the previous two Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia, and Vancouver, British Columbia, were indoors, and cold temperatures were not an issue at those Games, anyway.

Organizers here were proactive in addressing the weather. Each attendee at the stadium received a package that included hand and foot warmers, a wool hat, a poncho, a blanket and a heated seat cushion.

“Just wear layers and layers to protect yourself from the wind,” said Lauri Leppanen, 38, who was visiting from Turku, Finland, with his partner, Sanna Saarinen, 35. “I’m wearing merino wool, which is pretty cozy.”